Telephone call processing and switching systems are, at the time of the present patent application, relatively sophisticated, computerized systems, and development and introduction of new systems continues. Much information on the nature of such hardware and software is available in a number of publications accessible to the present inventors and to those with skill in the art in general. For this reason, much minute detail of known systems is not reproduced here, as to do so may obscure the facts of the invention.
At the time of filing the present patent application there continues to be remarkable growth in telephone-based information systems. Recently emerging examples are telemarketing operations and technical support operations, among many others, which have grown apace with development and marketing of, for example, sophisticated computer equipment. More traditional are systems for serving customers of large insurance companies and the like. In some cases organizations develop and maintain their own telephony operations with purchased or leased equipment, and in many other cases, companies are outsourcing such operations to firms that specialize in such services.
A large technical support operation serves as a good example in this specification of the kind of applications of telephone equipment and functions to which the present invention pertains and applies, and a technical support organization will be used from time to time in the current specification for example purposes. Such a technical support system, as well as other such systems, typically has a country-wide or even world-wide matrix of call centers for serving customer's needs. Such call center operations are more and more a common practice to provide redundancy and decentralization. However, the components of the present specification can apply to a single call center as well.
In a call center, a relatively large number of agents handle telephone communication with callers. Each agent is typically assigned to a telephone connected to a central switch, which is in turn connected to a public-switched telephone network (PSTN), well-known in the art. The central switch may be one of several types, such as Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), Private Branch Exchange (PBX), or PSTN.
An organization having one or more call centers for serving customers typically provides one or more telephone numbers to the public or to their customer base, or both, that may be used to reach the service. The number or numbers may be published on product packaging, in advertisements, in user manuals, in computerized help files, and the like. There are basically two scenarios. If the organization providing the service has a single call center, the number will be to the call center, and all further routing to an agent will be at the call center. If there are several call centers, the organization may provide several numbers, one for each call center, and the customer may be expected to use the number for the closest center, or for the center advertised to provide specifically the service he or she might need. In some cases the number provided will connect the caller with a first Service Control Point (SCP) which is adapted to pre-process incoming calls and forward the calls to other call centers.
Routing of calls, then, may be on several levels. Pre-routing may be done at SCPs and further routing may be, and almost always is, accomplished at individual call centers. As described above, a call center typically involves a central switch, which may be, for example, an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), Private Branch Exchange (PBX), or a public-switched telephone network (PSTN) switch. The central switch is connected to the PSTN network, well-known in the art. Agents, trained to handle customer service, man telephones connected to the central switch. This arrangement is known in the art as Customer Premises Equipment (CPE).
If the call center consists of just a central switch and connected telephone stations, the routing that can be done is very limited. Switches, such as ACD, PBX, PSTN and the like, although increasingly computerized, are limited in the range of computer processes that may be performed. For this reason additional computer capability in the art has been added for such central switches by connecting computer servers adapted to run control routines and to access databases. The processes of incorporating computer enhancement to telephone switches is known in the art as Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), and the hardware used is referred to as CTI equipment.
In a CTI system telephone stations connected to the central switch may be equipped also with computer terminals, so agents manning such stations may have access to stored data as well as being linked to incoming callers by a telephone connection. Such stations may be interconnected in a network by any one of several known network protocols, with one or more servers also connected to the network one or more of which may also be connected to a processor providing CTI enhancement, also connected to the central switch of the call center. It is this processor that provides the CTI enhancement for the call center.
When a call arrives at a call center, whether or no the call has been pre-processed at a SCP, typically at least the telephone number of the calling line is made available to the receiving switch at the call center by a telephone carrier. This service is available by most PSTNs as caller-ID information in one of several formats. If the call center is computer-enhanced (CTI) the phone number of the calling party may be used to access additional information from a database at a server on the network that connects the agent workstations. In this manner information pertinent to a call may be provided to an agent.
Even with present levels of CTI there are still problems in operating such call centers, or a system of such call centers. There are waiting queues with which to contend, for example, and long waits may be experienced by some callers, while other agents may be available who could handle callers stuck in queues. Other difficulties accrue, for example, when there are a number of call backs due to missed orders or other problems that must be initiated by agents who are trying to field incoming calls simultaneously. Still other problems accrue due to known latency in conventional equipment. There are many other problems, and it is well recognized in the art, and by the general public who have accessed such call centers, that there is much room for improvement in the entire concept and operation of such call center systems. It is to these problems, pertaining to efficient, effective, timely, and cost-effective service to customers (patrons) and to better management of agents working in call center systems that aspects and embodiments of the present invention detailed below are directed.
Typically, call centers are manned by agents connected by telephone and trained to handle certain problems experienced by customers such as questions regarding complicated installations of software and so on. Another instance might be a large sales network wherein the agent is trained to take customer orders and the like. Generally, agents who are employed to operate in such a call center work on site and must log-in and be counted present so that calls can be routed to that particular agent.
In typical call center operations agents are primarily engaged in handling incoming calls from persons seeking services provided by the call center. This is not, however, the only task agents handle. In many instances there is a need for agents to make outgoing calls. An agent, for example, in interaction with a calling party, may need to research some item of information, then place a call back to the original caller. In other instances the primary function of the call center may be agent-initiated calls (sales, marketing for example). In any case, there are often reasons for agents taking part in calls originated at the call center, in addition to their other duties.
In the operation of call centers wherein calls are placed from the call center, it is known in the art to make such calls by an automatic dialing system, wherein a call answered by a client is then transferred, hopefully quickly, to an available agent.
There are somewhat crude methods known in the art for allocating time for agents to handle both incoming and outgoing calls. For example, some conventional systems establish a rough ratio of incoming to outbound calls by limiting the number of outbound calls agents can make, by limiting the available number of trunk lines available to agents for outbound calls. Very little has been done in the art at the time of the present application, however, to efficiently manage agent's activity in handling outbound calls.
What is clearly needed is a method whereby outbound calls can be made in automated fashion, transparent to the agent, and when connected, can be distributed efficiently among available agents, while providing call data quickly to agents to which outbound calls are connected. Maximum efficiency can be achieved in such a system by blending and distributing the calls among agents in a group or groups of agents based on specific and tightly controlled, tested protocols.